The location for the new Mount Barker Hospital has now been confirmed, as the Malinauskas Labor Government unveils a first glimpse of the much-needed development for the fast-growing region.
A rapid site assessment examining all options has identified the existing Mount Barker District Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital location as the most suitable for the New Mount Barker Hospital.
The new hospital – a major Labor election commitment – will triple inpatient capacity, to help meet the needs of the expanding local population.
It will have 102 beds – 68 more than the current facility – and will provide care closer to home for Mount Barker and Adelaide Hills residents, reducing the number of transfers to metropolitan hospitals.
It will also expand capacity in specialist maternity beds, paediatric short-stay beds, rehabilitation beds, medical and surgical beds, and palliative care beds.
In addition, it will provide new outpatient and community health facilities, including consulting suites, an allied health gymnasium and telehealth and in-reach services.
A new 12-bed mental health unit will also be established.
The Malinauskas Labor Government has committed $220 million for the new hospital.
The rapid site assessment identified a range of benefits in building the new hospital on the existing site, including:
*The ability to incorporate the new Mount Barker Emergency Department (ED), which is nearing completion, into the new hospital.
*The ability to have a staged rollout of new bed capacity and services, rather than waiting for the completion of a new facility on a new site, enabling services to open sooner.
Construction works on the new Mount Barker Hospital ED are expected to be completed by June this year.
The new contemporary, purpose-built ED provides increased capacity to deliver emergency care, with 17 treatment bays - 12 more than the current ED.
Services at the existing hospital will continue to operate throughout the new hospital’s construction, expected to be completed by the end of 2027.
Enabling works are anticipated to start by the end of this year.
A concept image of the new hospital has been developed and the Government is finalising selection of an integrated design team, which will design the New Mount Barker Hospital in consultation with the local community, clinicians, key partners, and support networks.
In other good news for the Adelaide Hills community, BreastScreen SA has established a permanent clinic in Mount Barker, next to the hospital, to provide around 9,000 eligible women with access to life-saving breast cancer screening closer to home.
The area was identified as an ideal location for a fixed screening clinic due to its rapid population growth.
Until now, women in Mount Barker and surrounds had to either travel to Adelaide for appointments or rely on BreastScreen SA’s mobile screening unit, which visited the area for up to five months every two years.
To help meet a spike in demand for services, a pop-up screening clinic was introduced at the Summit Health Centre in November 2021, with a state-of-the-art screening mammography unit temporarily installed.
This will now be permanent, with the space recently receiving a bespoke fit-out which includes the addition of a consulting room, two change rooms and a dedicated reception area with client seating.
For more information, including a full list of clinics and locations for the mobile screening units, go to www.breastscreen.sa.gov.au
Quotes
Attributable to Peter Malinauskas
Mount Barker and the Hills are rapidly growing, and having more hospital services close to where people live is an important part of our wider plan to address ramping and have more ambulances turning up on time.
A bigger and better Mount Barker Hospital is exactly what the local community has been calling for, and we are getting on with the job of delivering this important election commitment.
Attributable to Chris Picton
We are pleased to be progressing on our commitment of new and improved health services for the Mount Barker and wider Adelaide Hills communities.
The site assessment for the new hospital has thoroughly and methodically weighed up all options of suitable locations for the new hospital and we can now move forward and get on with delivering this project that will significantly expand health services for this growing community.
We understand the importance of regular screening for breast cancer and are very pleased to see a permanent breast screening service in Mount Barker, to allow more women to be screened closer to where they live.
Attributable to Dan Cregan, State Member for Kavel
This hospital is vitally important for the residents of Mount Barker and the surrounding districts.
I have strongly lobbied for the Government to invest for our long-term healthcare needs and I am very pleased that planning work can now get underway.
Attributable to Barossa Hills Fleurieu Local Health Network CEO, Rebecca Graham
We welcome the outcome of the rapid site assessment and are thrilled to move towards the planning stage of the project, where our clinicians and the community can get involved and have their say in the design and development of this exciting project.
It is also exciting that our new Emergency Department will be complete in the coming months and will be the first part of the new hospital to be delivered.
Attributable to BreastScreen SA Program Director, Niamh Wade
We are really pleased to be able to partner with the Summit Health Centre to create a dedicated breast screening clinic for the women of Mount Barker and surrounds.
This fixed clinic will ensure women in the area have timely access to this life-saving health check closer to home and will also create additional capacity for our Adelaide-based services, as clients in the region will no longer need to travel to the city to screen.
It is important that women over 40 years, especially those aged 50 to 74, have a breast screen every two years to check for subtle breast tissue change, so we encourage eligible women living in the region to make a free appointment by calling BreastScreen SA on 13 20 50.
